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Monday, November 04, 2002 It's been snowing on and off here for most of the morning, coming down heavily during one hour-long stretch, completely wiping away the view up the valley. That let up around 10 a.m. Since then it's come down more lightly, no wind to speak of, small flakes descending slowly, gracefully. Not necessarily what I'm looking for on the 4th of November, but there it is outside all the windows anyway, pretty as all get-out. Most of the cold weather prep. that had to be done outside, around the house and land, has been squared away. There were a few projects I would have undertaken had the weather remained a bit more user-friendly, but they can wait. (They'll have to.) Inside the house here, the coal stove in the basement has the living space nicely warm, extremely cozy. So cozy I found myself on the couch with a magazine in my lap about an hour ago, reading, snoozing. Just drifting, thoughts on nothing important. The kind of thing I haven't done in a long time. I've been working my adorable little keister off during recent weeks/months, between one thing and another. I'm feeling the need to let the pedal up from the metal a bit, so I'm doing just that. It's a classic kind of set-up, really. The weather outside cold, wintry. Snow falling, sky uniformly gray, except for, now and then, a dim, blurry circle of subdued light where the sun hovers in the southern sky. A kind of weather that has a deep, stately beauty all its own. Add to that a comfortable, cold-proof living space to hang out in and the whole concept works nicely for me. The single problem: my drive and ambitiousness tend to evaporate in this kind of setting. And what the hell -- this time of year is tailor-made for slowing down, for going inward. The world outside has gotten darker, the daylight hours getting shorter and shorter, the sun (when it's out) going down behind the trees to the west around 3:30. All the activity of the warm season is a memory. It's easy to curl up for a while. Maybe I'll go do just that. May as well. The snow has started coming down heavily again. I look out the window, it gets kind of hypnotic. Why fight it? Later. ***************** And it is. Later, that is. It snowed like hell all afternoon. And it is accumulating. This really has to stop. ***************** Anyone who happens by this foolish journal and checks out an entry on the day it's been posted is reading first draft material. Sometimes that works out fine, other times less than fine. I'm not always my best editor when it comes to first draft material. Usually, though, within a day or two, I've returned to the entry and pummeled/massaged it into moderately acceptable shape, or have at least caught any flagrant misspellings, etc. Usually. Every now and then -- like today -- I'll stop by and take a look at an older entry. Sometimes the entry is fine, always a nice surprise. Sometimes it just needs some tweaking, which I can live with. Now and then -- like today -- it's just rife with disastrous writing, writing in need of immediate remedial work. (Pause for moment of cringing.) The entry of October 29 -- not a good example of my first draft work. Better now, though. I've said this before and it remains true -- sometimes it's a good idea to let a day or two pass before wading through an entry here. Now and then they need time to ferment and mature. rws 1:45 PM [+]
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